U.S. mothers of newborns today are more likely to be older, better-educated, foreign born, unmarried or a minority than their counterparts of less than two decades ago, according to a report released today.

The report by the Pew Research Center found that women older than 35 gave birth to more babies in 2008 than teenagers did; that foreign-born new mothers increased about 60 percent from 1990 to 2004; and that only a little more than half of 2008 childbirths involved Caucasians, down from nearly two-thirds in 1990.

“Changing demographics and behavior have combined to produce a strikingly altered portrait of American motherhood,” said D'Vera Cohn, a Pew senior writer and report author. “Our report pulls together information that might have resulted in a story here and a story there, but that hadn't previously revealed a detailed, comprehensive look at the new reality.”

Cohn said drawing conclusions is difficult because the new portrait isn't of a typical mother but an amalgam of mothers. She said she was struck by the fact that some of the trends that initially attracted attention before 1990, such as the increase in older mothers, had continued the last two decades.

Hispanic role in Texas

A local demographer said that because of Texas' heavily Hispanic population, the state leads the nation in some of the trends and lags it in others.

The Pew report's findings:

• Unmarried women accounted for more than four in 10 childbirths (41 percent) in 2008, up from just under three in 10 (28 percent) in 1990. The share increased most sharply among whites and Hispanics, though it is still highest among black women.

• Foreign-born women accounted for nearly one in four births (24 percent) in 2004, up from one in six in 1990. The report notes that of the 142 million people projected to be added to the population between 2005 and 2050, 50 million would be the children or grandchildren of new immigrants.

• Most mothers of newborns (54 percent) had at least some college education in 2006, an increase from 1990's 41 percent. Seventy-one percent of 35-and-older new mothers were college educated in 2006.

• Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of new mothers, accounting for 24 percent of 2008's births, compared with 14 percent in 1990. The share of births to Asians doubled, from 3 percent to 6 percent, while whites dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent and blacks dropped from 16 percent to 15 percent.

• The overall birthrate declined 20 percent from 1990 to 2008. The report says it has occurred among all major race and ethnic groups.

Many factors

Cohn said a complex mix of factors is driving the changes, such as marriage becoming a less central institution, academia enrolling more female than male students, and the growing sophistication and mainstreaming of fertility clinics.

Karl Eschbach, director of population research at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said, “Texas is well in front of the United States as a whole in the growth of the Latina and immigrant shares of all births” and following trends at a slower pace toward delayed childbearing, lower fertility rates and higher levels of schooling .

The Pew report also presented results of a survey about parenthood. The results included that most Americans say they know at least one unmarried woman who had a baby and one unmarried man who fathered a child. It found Americans have softened slightly in their disapproval of unmarried parenthood but reported most say it is bad for society.

The survey also asked why parents decided to have their first child. Most said “the joy of having children,” but the report noted “a half century after the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of birth control pills, nearly half said, ‘there wasn't a reason; it just happened.' ”